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Customer won't pay!

My company completed a job for a customer, the total was xxxx, he only paid xxxx and said he was going to pay the rest the following day. Well, needless to say he didn't. And he won't return our calls.
I didn't worry too much, knowing we could take legal action thanks to our trusty signed contract, which I quickly pulled from his file only to find out THE NEW INSTALLER DID NOT HAVE HIM SIGN IT!!!!!!!!!!!

Sooooooooooo, I don't think an unsigned contract will hold up too well.

I'm looking for any advice on what to do. Obviously I can't get the furnace back since it's inside their home, but I wonder if I can legally repo the AC condenser which is on the side of the house, in the front yard, not inside of a fence??

They were very pleased with the job, which is what pisses me off even more. It's not like they are holding the money because they aren't satisfied!!

"In the event that payment is not made in full, I agree to all full access to reclaim/repossess any installed equipment or materials."

I wouldn't even give them that option. If payment isn't made in full, legal action and penalties will ensue. Sort of like, "Oh well, we can't pay the other half--just let them take it back." I'm no legal expert though.

From my experience: Once installed, it's their property, paid for or not. If you seize it without a court order, you could be held for vandalism as best and grand larceny at worst. On the other hand, I've been known to walk right into the yard in broad daylight and disable a condenser on a hot day to get the clients attention. But the purely legal thing to do in our state is to #1, file a lein on the property before 30-days has passed. That's a critical time in our state, why I don't know but on the lien the mechanic/tech must sign his name to a statement indicating he has worked on the property within the last 30-days. Finally, I'd file a suit in small claims court if the $X,XXX.xx is under the maximum in your state. In ours it's $X,500.xx but it varies from state to state. In any event there's a lot more logic and a lot less legal in small claims court and if you can explain that the installer forgot to get the contract signed but look, here's 17 other jobs we did for $X,XXX.xx so isn't it a little absurd to think this job would only be $Y,YYY.yy?? In our state the small claims is ajudicated by a clerk magistrate. If the defendent loses, he/she can appeal to a judge. If the plaintiff loses, that's the end of the road, no appeal allowed.

If YOU want change, YOU have to first change.

If you are waiting for the 'other guy' to change first, just remember, you're the 'other guy's' other guy. To continue to expect real change when you keep acting the same way as always, is folly. Won't happen. Real change will only happen when a majority of the people change the way they vote!

Maintain your professionalism
I Know your as mad as can be right now but how you handle this situation is what seperates you from everyone else out there.
If your not getting a response by phone then start mailing letters
Maybe hes expecting a formal bill?
Then after 1 or 2 of those I would make it a little more personal maybe a phone call to him at work.
Then start the certified letters with legal jargan
No warranty,Lein on house,file with credit report,seek legal action and so on.

The other thing is maybe his money went funny on him.
Leave him a message and ask if he needs to finace the rest
Make up a corny excuse like We a company xyz like to close our books on the last thursday of every month so we are ahead of the banks and it would be doing us a favor if we got this finaced today.

I am sure we can come up with some real dispicable things to do but why go there?
if your on this site then your not hurting for the money your just really peeved
Good luck man